The Great Escape
by iLikePie285
Summary: Logan Mitchell has run away from home to Beijing, China where he meets a gang of street-rats who steal money for a living: Kendall, James, Carlos, & Camille. They become his family. What will he do when his parents come back for him? James/Logan SLASH, AU
1. Back to December

**YAY! Another story! :) This one was inspired by the book The Thief Lord. Hope you like it! :D**

It was a cold December night, and Logan Mitchell pulled the folds of his worn-out jacket closer against his body as another chilling breeze swept past him. It was about 7 at night, and the streets of Beijing, China were still crowded and lively with people. Lights from cars flashed by, and people riding bicycles zoomed past hurriedly parting crowds, not caring about running anyone over. Streetlights flickered mysteriously. Conversations in Chinese scattered throughout the crowds, and luckily Logan had learned some Mandarin back home and was able to pick up on some words.

Home. Logan missed home. Wait…no, he didn't. It was complicated. He missed his friends, the always-warm weather, school, and most of all, his family. His old family, actually. Recently, his father had lost his job, causing their family to lose their home, their life, their happiness, everything, His mother had quickly come from kind to abusive, constantly beating her husband and Logan himself. They moved in with one of their close friends in a crowded apartment, and when Mrs. Mitchell began abusing her friends, too, Logan had enough. He stole his father's credit card, and with the little money left, bought a plane ticket to Beijing, China (the only foreign country which had a language he knew well). And now, here he is.

"Logan!" Kendall Knight's voice startled Logan out of his thoughts.

"H-huh? What?" Logan stammered nervously, his teeth chattering from the cold.

"I asked you if you wanted anything," Kendall rolled his eyes, and Logan looked around to see that he had followed Kendall into a small café, where they regularly bought their dinner. It was a cozy little shop, with worn-out blinds and old, dirty wallpaper, but the food was sure as hell good.

"Chicken salad," Logan muttered to Kendall, and watched silently as his blonde friend placed their orders to the kind Chinese lady, who surprisingly seemed to understand Kendall's screwed-up Chinese.

Kendall was a tall, muscular blonde, and he had somehow grown a strong bond with Logan over the two months he had known him, and always felt the need to protect him. He was a part of the group Logan had discovered when he first ventured the crowded streets of Beijing, a group of street-rat orphans also from America. They lived in a dark, secluded alley with a boarded wall they had made themselves, and they stole money and valuable items for a living.

Logan had met Kendall in the middle of a street; he had pushed the smaller boy out of the way when Logan had accidentally walked in front of a car. Luckily, neither of them were injured, but after Kendall learned about the brunette's past he was determined for Logan to join the gang. Logan was hesitant to join at first; back home he had always been the goody-good, dorky, nerdy kid of the school and stealing was out of the question. But he reasoned that this was probably the only place he could stay, since he had no money, food, or shelter; so he agreed. Soon enough, after two months, the gang became his family, and stealing money out of random passerby's pockets was like a second nature to him.

The members of the group weren't absolute delinquents, Logan had to admit. Each were very kind and generous, and had their own story. Stealing was their only way to survive, and Logan understood that.

James Diamond had originally lived in Los Angeles, California, but moved to Beijing when his father got a job transfer. James was a tall, muscular, pretty brunette. He was extremely vain, and freaked when someone messed with his perfect hair. His family had been living in China for a good three years until James confessed he was gay. His family turned out to be homophobes, and kicked him out. He had been living alone on the streets, stealing money out of passerby's pockets until he met Camille, and started their little group.

Camille Sanders had been living in Texas, much like Logan, except she had lived in Sugar Land, not Dallas. Her mother had also gotten a job transfer to Beijing, like James's had. Camille was a pretty girl with long, wavy brown hair that went down to her back. She aspired to be a Hollywood actress someday, and was always practicing her lines, even when talking to other people. Only her closest friends could tell if she was rehearsing or actually talking to someone. Both her parents died in a car crash on the way to one of her auditions, and Camille ran away from the orphanage, until she met James, where she became his partner in crime for survival.

Carlos Garcia was the "battery" of the gang, he always liked to make things more exciting. He was a short, Mexican boy with toned muscles and messy black hair. He was always suggesting dangerous things to try out, like "Hey Logan, wanna see if I can jump off that roof and survive?" Luckily, though, the group was always against his crazy ideas and immediately turned them down, much to his disappointment. He loved to eat sweets, and almost half of the gang's money was used up buying cake or candy for Carlos. He had lived in St. Paul, Minnesota for his entire life until he hopped on a plane to Beijing because he overheard his parents were going to give him up for adoption. He was the third to join the gang, along with Camille and James.

Kendall Knight was the second last addition to the gang. He was the oldest and tallest of the group, just half an inch taller than James, and was known as the leader. He was a muscular boy with dirty blonde hair and striking green eyes, and always came up with the best ideas. He was from Minnesota like Carlos, but moved to Beijing because of his father's job. His mother had died from cancer when he was 3, and his father died soon after from depression. He and his sister Katie were taken to the orphanage, but Kendall hated it and ran away, leaving Katie behind because he feared she was better off in the orphanage than out on the streets.

Logan Mitchell had met Kendall two months ago, and quickly became the "brain" of the group. He was their translator, since he was fluent in Chinese, and was skilled in math, science, and academics. He gave advice to the gang for strategies for stealing anonymously, and worried the most when one of them was hurt, or sick. His friends called him the mother hen of the group. Ironically, Logan was the second oldest of the group, but the gang always 'babied' him and felt the need to protect him because he was the shortest, scrawniest and the dorkiest member.

Logan was suddenly aware of his surroundings when another biting cold breeze swept past him. He shivered and hugged himself, longing to go back to their hideout, where a warm heater was kept. Kendall walked beside him, carrying everyone's dinners in both hands.

"Aw, shit. We're out of money," Kendall whined, flipping through a leather wallet which he had stolen from an old man. "We still gotta go get Carlos's comic books or he'll start bitching all night. Logie, go steal some chick's purse or something,"

"Sure thing," Logan replied casually, breaking away from Kendall for a moment to bump into a young woman, causing her to drop her bags in surprise.

"Ah! Dui bu qi, dui bu qi!'' Logan apologized in fluent Chinese, flashing the girl his signature million-dollar half smile, and sure enough, the Chinese woman blushed a pink color.

"Mei shi," the lady reassured kindly, kneeling down to pick up her bags. Logan crouched down beside her, helping her pick up some books and placing it into its respective bag. He could see that she had put her purse down to reach her books more easily, and he stealthily took the leather purse in one hand and threw it behind his back as far as he could. The woman didn't notice, her back still turned as she placed each book in the bags. Out of the corner of his eye, Logan caught Kendall behind him picking up the purse.

"Xie xie, ah," The woman thanked when she had picked up all her bags, and Logan gave her a polite nod before running back towards Kendall, who had already slipped into a bookshop.

"Nice job," Kendall commented as Logan entered the small shop, the door chime tinkling loudly as the glass door closed.

"Yeah, yeah," Logan replied as he picked up the comic books that Carlos had wanted. "Why does Carlos even like these comics, anyways? They're all in Chinese,"

"He wants you to read them to him," Kendall explained.

"Dear God, no," Logan rolled his eyes, and Kendall laughed loudly. He picked up a small stuffed rabbit. "Hey, d'you think Camille would want this? It's her birthday tomorrow,"

"Yeah, she said she wanted something cute and cuddly," Logan replied, absently flipping through a science encyclopedia. Kendall shrugged and placed it on the counter with the comic books.

"Ba shi liu yuan," the cashier told them boredly, and Kendall dug out his wallet. "What'd she say?" he whispered to Logan.

"Eighty six yuan," Logan translated, and Kendall smiled in gratitude before pulling out an eighty dollar bill. The cashier accepted the money and placed the rabbit and books in a bag before handing them to Kendall.

"Xie xie, zai lai," the woman called after them as the pair left the shop.

"Shit, I think the food's getting cold," Kendall muttered to himself as they walked back towards the hideout. "James's gonna be pissed."

"Yeah, well I'm sure he'll forgive us when he sees how much makeup we got in this purse," Logan joked, holding up a lipstick tube he had found in the stolen purse. Kendall snorted. "True," he agreed, just as they approached the hideout. Kendall rapped his knuckles loudly on the wooden door.

"Password?" James's muffled voice came from the other side.

"Let us in, James, you know we can never remember your stupid passwords,"

"Wrong," James sing-songed mockingly.

"God dammit, pretty-boy, it's freezing out here and if you don't let us in right now, I'm gonna kick down this door, rip out your balls and feed them to Logan," Kendall growled.

"Ew, no thank you," Logan commented, a disgusted look on his face.

"Jeez, I was just kidding," James muttered nervously, swinging the wooden door open. A blast of warmth came from inside, and both boys moaned in appreciation as they stepped into the hideout.

The hideout was a neat, tidy room, with the alley walls serving as the walls and a wooden roof on the top. There were five sleeping bags in one corner, and one box at the end of each bedroll; containing each person's belongings: their clothes, books, toys, etcetera. There was another large box beside the other boxes which usually held the expensive Dell laptop that the gang spent months saving up for, but at the moment Camille was using it. There was also a tiny color TV across the beds which the group had also had a hard time saving the money to buy. The rest of the room was basically empty, save the huge black bed sheet laid out on the entire hideout ground to protect them from the dirty alley floor and bugs. The huge heater lay in the deserted corner beside the door, beside a large fan for the summer. There was a pile of shoes by the door, and Kendall and Logan both threw two more pairs of shoes to the pile before sitting down on their respective beds.

"Who wants dinner?" Kendall asked, not really waiting for a reply before throwing one box on each person's bed. Carlos caught his in his hands, looking up from the TV before grinning.

"Hey guys! Didja get me the comic books?"

"Yeah, we did, but there's no way in hell I'm gonna read them to you," Logan told him through a mouthful of salad. He sat down on Camille's bed, who was absorbed in a game of Solitare on the laptop.

"Aww, c'mon, Logie!" the Latino pouted, but shrugged when Logan still refused. "Whatever, I can just look at the pictures," Carlos giggled, ripping open his box of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets and devouring one happily, his eyes still glued to the TV.

"Oh, hey Camille, we bought you a little birthday present," Logan suddenly remembered, grabbing the bag of comics and pulling out the stuffed rabbit before throwing the books back to Carlos.

"Seriously? Wow, Logan, how'd you know this was what I wanted?" Camille looked genuinely surprised as she took the soft stuffed rabbit in her hands.

"Well, you said you wanted something cute and cuddly," Logan explained, wolfing down the rest of his chicken salad before throwing the empty box across the room. Carlos, being the neat freak he was, stood up to retrieve the plastic box before throwing it out the door.

"I was gonna dress Logie up in a tutu for you, but he was against the idea," Kendall joked.

Logan flipped him the bird. "Fuck you," he scowled, and Kendall laughed loudly.

"Just kiddin', Lo-gain," he pouted, before attempting to hug the smaller brunette. "Ya know I love you,"

"Yeah, yeah," Logan rolled his eyes as he struggled to escape the older boy's grasp.

"Though Logan in a tutu would have been nice," Camille muttered under her breath, and Logan snorted.

"Keep dreaming, bitch," he mocked jokingly, and Camille laughed for a second before slapping him, hard, across the cheek.

"OW! Wha—"

"Of _course _I'll take you back," Camille said dramatically, before grabbing the sides of Logan's face and kissing him violently. "I'm gonna tell Rachel we're back together, and that I will destroy ANYBODY," a vicious jab to Kendall, "who tries to come between us." More kisses.

Logan pulled away and wiped the lipstick from his mouth before raising a single eyebrow at Camille. "One Tree Hill?" he asked, and Camille smiled mischievously.

"You could say that," she replied nonchalantly, picking her stuffed bunny from the ground where it had fallen and hugging it to her chest while continuing her game of Solitare.

"Hey, Kenny, didja get find any makeup in that purse over there?" James asked, pointing to the purse that lay beside Kendall. Kendall shrugged and tossed it to James.

"I think Logie found some lipstick," he snorted. "Of course _you'd_ need some," he laughed, and James shot him a look.

"Shut up, Kendall. You're gay too and you know it," he muttered before flipping open his pocket mirror and gazing intently into it.

"Yeah, well everyone in this fucking _room_ is either gay or bi, James," Kendall rolled his eyes, as if it was obvious. "Even Camille," Camille rolled her eyes and flipped Kendall the bird; she didn't like talking about her sexuality.

"I'm not," Logan piped up timidly.

"Oh, save your breath, Logie," Carlos laughed and flipped off the TV before setting down the remote. "We've all seen the way you look at James, and I'm sure you know it yourself,"

Logan flushed a deep shade of red.

Silence.

"I'm going to bed," he muttered, crawling over Kendall's lap to get to his bed before tucking himself under the covers, trying his best to avoid eye contact with James.

Kendall laughed. "Awww, our little Logie's shy," he cooed.

"FUCK YOU," Logan growled menacingly, and the whole gang laughed once more before returning to their respective beds. Logan could hear Carlos shuffling to flip off the tall lamp above him, enveloping the entire room in darkness.

~~~PAGEBREAK~~~~

Detective Katie Knight sighed heavily before leaning back in her chair. It had been a long day at work, and so far she still had one more case to solve. Logan Mitchell, a nineteen year old boy who had run away from home two months ago.

Tracking him down hadn't been too hard. He had used his father's credit card, and Katie quickly found that it had last been used to buy a plane ticket to Beijing, China. Tricky little kid had flown halfway across the globe.

Katie's thoughts of the runaway boy somehow waned to the subject of her older brother, Kendall Knight, who had left Katie in an orphanage over twenty years ago, when she was one. Now, she was fully grown and taken up the job of a detective. While she solved each and every case, she had always been on the lookout for her brother. Sometimes she wondered if he had gotten married yet, since he was already a twenty four year old grown man. Secretly, every year on his birthday (yes, she remembered, even when she was just one years old) she would celebrate alone, laying on the roof at night, wondering what kind of big brother he had been.

Katie sighed heavily before leaning back in her chair and taking a long gulp of her coffee. Her eyes lazily stared out the large window in her office, overlooking the busy city of Beijing, China. _These Mitchell people better pay me good if I find this Logan,_ Katie thought tiredly. _When I get back to America, the first damn thing I'm going to do is find my big brother. _

Little did Katie know, that Kendall was much, much closer to her than she thought.

**Reviews are appreciated 3**


	2. Just the Way You Are

**Lol. So here's some James/Logan fluff for you guys! :)**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed!**

"ACHOO!" Kendall sneezed loudly, rubbing his nose tiredly.

"Great way to wake us up, Kendie," Camille groaned from the bed beside him.

"You know, they say that when you sneeze, someone's thinking about you," Logan's muffled voice came from the corner of the room beside Carlos.

"And once again Logan starts the day with an interesting fact that _no one cares about_," James snorted.

Logan's face colored again as he remembered the previous events from last night, but shook it off as he threw a pillow towards James's direction. "Go to hell, pretty-boy," he scowled.

James made kissy faces towards Logan's direction. "You know you love it," he sing-songed.

"Who would love a tranny hooker like you?" Logan teased, and Carlos snorted.

"Burnnnn!" the Latino drawled out, laughing happily.

"Shut up," James stuck his tongue out at his two friends. "Who's up for buying breakfast today?"

"Not me," Logan yelled out quickly, burying his face deeper into the warmth of his pillow.

Camille had a mischievous smirk on her face. "I know, why don't we let James and Logie go today?" she suggested innocently, and Carlos and Kendall immediately bursted into peals of laughter.

"Ohhhh, yeah, good one Camille," Kendall rolled back in forth on his bed, laughing loudly.

"Let the two lovebirds have their time alone," Carlos waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Go to hell," Logan growled loudly before snatching his coat, his wallet and his glasses from his box before stomping out the door, slamming it closed with a thud.

His face was tomato red, mainly from the embarrassment, not the biting cold. He could hear James's quiet footsteps trailing behind him, but he stormed on ahead, shoving his arms through the sleeves of his coat and jamming his stupid thick-framed glasses on his face before pushing his way through a crowd of innocent Chinese bystanders.

"Logan, wait!" Logan heard James shuffling through the mob of people in desperation to catch up with his shorter friend. Logan, being the nice person he was, stopped for to wait for him. When James caught up, however, Logan turned and continued walking, not saying a word and trying to avoid eye contact.

James didn't seem to notice, though. He stared at Logan intently for a second, before randomly saying, "You wear glasses?" he asked, a strange look on his face.

"Yeah, but I don't wear them a lot because I don't really like them," Logan muttered reaching up to straighten the said object on his nose.

"Why not? They're cute," James suddenly blurted out, and Logan flushed.

"W-what?" Did _James Diamond _just call him cute?  
"Nothing," James said quickly, and nervously fiddled with the hem of his shirt.

Silence passed them the whole way to the small shop where they bought their breakfasts.

"Ni hao," the cashier said kindly to the pair, and Logan pulled out his wallet.

"Ni hao, wo xiang mai yi bao man tou, liang bao hua juan, yi bao cai bao zi, hai you yi bao rou bao zi," Logan ordered in a perfect Chinese accent. The cashier nodded, scribbled the order down on a notepad, and headed back to the back of the store to place their orders.

"What'd you buy?" James whispered to Logan.

"Two small bags of onion steamed buns, one of plain steamed buns, one of vegetable buns and one of meat buns," Logan answered absently, looking everywhere but James's gorgeous hazel eyes.

James nodded. They waited quietly for a few more minutes before the cashier came back, carrying the five bags of said foods. After Logan paid, the pair walked off in more agonizing silence.

Finally, halfway back to the hideout, James broke the silence.

"Logan," he said in a gently voice, as if it might break Logan if he asked, "D-do you really, y'know, like—"

"Yes," Logan sighed heavily. "I do, James. And it's okay if you don't like me back, I mean, of course you wouldn't; seriously, you're like a gorgeous teenage model and I'm like a fan girl-" Logan clapped his hand over his mouth after realizing what he said, and turned an embarrassing shade of crimson before staring down at the ground and quickening his pace, walking way in front of James.

"Aww, Logie," James chuckled and ran to catch up with the shorter brunette, wrapping a reassuring arm around his friend.

"That's so embarrassing," Logan groaned, burying his face into the crook of James's neck. Logan breathed in the cheap cologne that James had begged Kendall to buy for him; it smelled of fresh pine trees. God, he sounded like a lovesick fan girl. Logan squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could. "A lightning bolt would be appreciated right now," he muttered.

"Oh Logan, you're too adorable," James laughed kissing the frame of the brunette's glasses gently. "I like you, too, you know,"

Logan's head snapped up. "What?"

"I. Like. You," James repeated, as if talking to a preschooler. He wore an amused smile.

Logan still seemed surprised. "You? Like _me_?" he asked incredulously, his big chocolate brown eyes wide in shock.

"Yeah," James laughed.

"You like me," Logan said again. He looked as if he were going to hyperventilate.

"Logan…" James chuckled. This was going to take a while.

"How is that even possible? Am I dreaming? I have to be dreaming, right? Yeah, this isn't possible. I bet this is just one of my silly dreams, as always. I bet if I slap myself, I can wake up and—"

"Logan!" James caught Logan's slender wrist in his right hand easily just as the brunette had brought it up to do said action. "You're not dreaming. Real James likes real Logan," he explained, as clearly and slowly as he could.

Logan squinted. "That's what all the dream-Jameses say," he said accusingly, and James couldn't help but laugh.

"Would a dream-James do this?" he asked, before leaning in and pressing his lips against the shorter brunette's. He could feel Logan gasp in shock for a few seconds, before he began kissing back. James grinned and massaged his lips against Logan's, pressing his tongue against his friend's soft lips, asking for entry. Logan moaned in ecstasy, and the pretty boy took this as permission to explore the brunette's mouth. He threaded his fingers through Logan's soft, silky hair and explored every inch of the shorter boy's mouth with his tongue, before pulling away.

"Yep," Logan decided. "You're no dream," he smiled his precious crooked half-smile, and James melted on the inside.

"You're too precious," he whispered in Logan's ear, smiling as he felt the boy shiver next to him.

"Why do you even like me?" Logan muttered, so quiet James almost didn't catch it. The pretty boy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I'm so…boring," he admitted quietly.

"What? Logan, you're perfect," James was quick to reassure. "You're the complete opposite of boring,"

Logan rolled his eyes. "I know, but I'm not like…manly or anything," he confessed, his eyes glued to his shoes. "I'm so dorky, and nerdy, girly, and ugly,"

"Logan, don't say that ever again," James look shocked, as if Logan had offended him deeply. "I love you just the way you are," the pretty boy assured, pressing a gentle kiss to the brunette's head.

"You like my hair?" Logan questioned disbelievingly, and James chuckled.

"It's the softest thing I've ever felt," he reassured.

"And my crap-colored eyes?"

"It looks like chocolate to me," James laughed.

"What about my de-formed nose? You can't like that, can you? And my butt-ugly glasses? What about my girl-hands? And—"

James interrupted the brunette's rant with a gentle kiss, pressing his lips firmly against Logan's for a few seconds before pulling back. "Logan Mitchell. You. Are. Perfect. Understood?" he smiled reassuringly, and Logan's face broke out into a grin.

"But not as perfect as you," he sighed, and James laughed loudly.

"That might be true," the pretty-boy teased, and Logan giggled as they approached the hideout.

James kicked the wooden door hard with his foot, and Logan could feel the walls vibrate from the force of the kick. "LET US IN, BITCHES," James screamed.

"Password?" Logan could practically hear Kendall's smirk through the closed door.

"Kendall, we don't even _have _a password anymore,"

"Wrong," Kendall sing songed, imitating James's behavior the night before.

"Oh, Kendall," James sighed. "If you don't let us in right this minute, I'm going to rip out your balls and feed them to Logan," he mocked Kendall's previous threat.

"Why must I always be the one to eat the balls?" Logan groaned, a look of disgust twisted on his face.

Kendall laughed and threw the door open. "Hello, lovebirds. How was your romantic walk?"

"Breakfast for everyone but Kenny," James teased, throwing the bags of buns to everyone except for the blonde.

Kendall pouted. "I was just kidding!" he laughed nervously.

James rolled his eyes, but threw Kendall his breakfast anyway. Kendall caught it easily, ripping the plastic bag open and devouring one steamed bun.

"By the way, Logan and I are together now," James noted, plopping down on his bed, and Logan blushed through a mouthful of bao zi.

"Cool," Camille noted, absently flipping through the TV channels.

"'Bout time," Kendall laughed.

"Whatever," Carlos rolled his eyes. "So, what are we gonna do today?" he asked Kendall, who was the leader.

"Iunno," Kendall replied, who was apparently trying to figure out how many steamed buns he could fit in his mouth. Camille rolled her eyes at their leader.

"I was thinking we could go clothes shopping," Camille suggested. The other four boys seemed to agree, shrugging and nodding.

"Sure, I need new clothes anyway." Logan confirmed, and so their schedule for the day was decided.

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	3. Found You

**Hey! Here's the third chapter. And yes, if you've noticed, I name the chapters after some of my favorite songs. :)**

**I update fast, don't I? ;) Thanks for all of the reviews!**

**Well, enjoy! :D**

"I think we only have enough money to buy one outfit for everyone," Kendall declared, squinting into the stolen leather wallet, which was stuffed with the Chinese paper bills. "So…which store do you wanna go to first?"

The gang had caught a taxi to Wang Fu Jing Street to shop for the clothes; it was a famous street known for shopping. Tourists from all over the world crowded the sidewalks, and lucky red lanterns were hung across the huge tree branches above.

"Let's just walk around and stop at any decent looking clothes shop we find," Logan suggested, since the street was filled with all different kinds of stores: jewelry shops, clothing shops, furniture shops, souvenir shops, and even a few restaurants. The rest of the group all seemed to agree with Logan's idea, and so they set off.

Loud music played through the speakers in each shop, and Logan recognized a few as popular songs in America. They walked past four or five worn down shops, with Camille and Carlos chatting animatedly about something random, until Kendall came to a stop at a fancy looking store with mannequins on display behind a window and bright neon lights blinking Chinese characters. The store was crowded with more people than the other shops around it, and the walls were made of expensive white marble.

The blonde looked behind him, at his friends. "Wanna go in?" he asked, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the store, and the gang nodded.

"Make sure we don't lose anybody in the crowd," Logan warned everyone, being the worrier he was. James chuckled and pressed a kiss to the brunette's forehead.

Carlos rolled his eyes before screaming a battle cry and running headfirst into the swarming crowd. A few people looked annoyed as Carlos shoved them aside.

When all five runaways finally made it past the jammed entrance, they found that the inside was _huge._ It was at almost more than half the size of a full-sized Wal-Mart back in Texas, Logan thought.

"Ladies first!" Camille called happily, grabbing five pairs of arms and dragging them to the ladies' section. "So, I was thinking of getting a cute dress to wear, over a—"

"Whoa, whoa," Logan interrupted. "A dress, Camille? In the winter?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm going to wear _tights _under it," Camille rolled her eyes, as if it were obvious.

"Whatever floats your boat," Logan sighed. "But don't blame me if you freeze to death and get hypothermia,"

"Okay," Camille replied happily. "Oh, that one's cute," she caught sight of a frilly blue chiffon dress, snatched it off its hanger and skipped off into the dressing rooms.

The boys sighed and plopped down on one of the couches. This was going to take a while.

More than an hour and a half later, Camille had finally made her decision. She had bought a plain white sleeveless dress with a silver ribbon and layered bubble hems, a black cashmere cardigan, black tights, silver high heels, and to top it off, layered pearl necklaces and a ribbon headband.

"Jesus, Camille! That's almost more than half our money!" Kendall cried, exasperated as Logan finished adding up the total price.

"Being a girl isn't cheap, you know," Camille explained, and Kendall slapped his forehead.

"Well, we can either buy one outfit and take turns wearing it for the whole winter while the others freeze to death, _or_ Logan can go steal another purse," Kendall listed out the options.

"I'm on it," Logan muttered, annoyed, and plunged back into the crowd of people.

XXXXX

Katie Knight sighed as she dumped the rest of her coffee down the sink of her hotel. It had been a long night; she'd been searching every street up and down for Logan Mitchell. It was a big city. The chances of finding one boy in a city like this were one in a million.

She took a shower and got dressed to go get some breakfast. She gave a quick goodbye to the picture of a two year old Kendall on her bedside table before grabbing her coat, flipping the lights shut, and slamming the door of her fancy apartment closed.

Katie strolled into the rotating glass doors of the hotel, waving a polite hello to the doorman, before walking out to the streets where she held her arm out, indicating she needed a taxi. Sure enough, after a few seconds, a bright green taxi cab rolled up beside her, and Kate opened the back door before slipping inside.

"Ni hao," she greeted the taxi driver politely before saying in her best Chinese she knew, "Wo yao qu Wang Fu Jing lu," she told him, grimacing when she got her accents mixed up. The driver nodded, surprisingly understanding her, before turning around and driving towards the destination. He didn't say a word, getting the point that Katie did not speak much Chinese, and the blonde girl was thankful for that.

Katie settled down next to the window and watched buildings fly by. Her thoughts revolved around Kendall once again, a subject she hadn't been able to drop since she had gotten Logan Mitchell's case. She stayed like that for what seemed like hours, until her phone's buzzing startled her from her train of thoughts.

She scrambled to pull her iPhone from her pocket, and rolled her eyes when she saw who it was. Mrs. Mitchell. This had been the fourth call this morning. Katie certainly did not want to hear Mrs. Mitchell's squeaky annoying voice again today, so she ignored her phone and let it go to voicemail.

"_The person you have called, Katie Knight, is not here at the moment. Please leave a message at the tone."_

"Katie? Detective Katie? Have you found my baby yet? Call me back when you get this message," Mrs. Mitchell's voice sounded desperate.

_Logan sure didn't seem like your 'baby' when you were beating him in all those videos your husband recorded as evidence, _Katie thought grimly. She stared out the window for a few more seconds before realizing the car had stopped, and the driver was looking at her expectantly. Blushing from embarrassment, Katie pulled out the money from her wallet and handed it to the driver before stepping out of the car.

She walked down the street, which was packed with people, before realizing this street had more of clothing and jewelry stores instead of restaurants. Sighing heavily, she walked forward anyway, stopping at a fancy clothing store with flashy mannequins and advertisements. One easel board contained a bunch of Chinese characters that of course Katie couldn't understand, but underneath the symbols were English letters, probably for the many tourists, that read: NOODLE SHOP ON SECOND FLOOR.

The blonde girl decided she could go for some noodles, shrugged, and pushed herself through the enormous crowd of people in the entrance. As she made her way to the escalators that lead to the second floor, she suddenly bumped into a boy that seemed to come from nowhere, causing her fall on her butt.

"Dui bu qi!" the boy apologized sincerely and Katie looked to see a boy, who looked about nineteen or twenty years of age, with messy dark brown hair and chocolate eyes. The boy looked strangely familiar…

"It's okay, I speak English too," Katie assured him, assuming that he was American, and the boy nodded.

"Can I help you up?" the boy asked, extending a hand. Katie stared blankly at it for a second, racking her brains for this boy who looked so familiar…

"I'm Logan," the boy said randomly, as if reading Katie's mind. Oh.

This boy was Logan Mitchell. Katie was sure of it.

"I'm Katie, nice to meet you," The blonde girl took Logan's hand and pulled herself to her feet. She felt Logan's slender hand on her back, down to her ass, and then…pulled out her wallet from her back pocket.

The boy was tricky. Katie almost didn't notice. But she made no move to stop him.

"Thank you," she nodded at him, before turning and walking away, not even glancing back.

She reached into her bag, pulled out a small notebook, before flipping to an empty page with the words "Notes on Logan Mitchell" on the top. She pulled out a pen and scribbled down,

_Logan Mitchell is one tricky thief. _

XXXXX

Logan grinned as he fingered the wallet in his hands. That woman, Katie, sure was oblivious. He found Kendall and the rest of the gang still crammed on the couch in front of the ladies' dressing room. James and Carlos were arguing fervently about something that Logan honestly didn't care about.

"Guess who got us some more mon-ay?" he called cheerfully over to them, holding up the wallet, and the boys whooped loudly before grabbing Camille and making a beeline towards the men's clothing section. Logan trailed behind, them, making sure no one was lost in the crowd. James stayed back with his boyfriend, wrapping a possessive arm around the brunette's shoulder and kissing his hair repeatedly.

"I love you, Logan," James chuckled into Logan's soft hair.

Logan smiled his famous crooked half-smile. "Love ya too," he grinned.

They laughed as they watched the clerk groan in annoyance as Kendall and Carlos bombarded the clothing racks, taking one article of clothing off its hanger, examining it for a second before throwing it behind them on the ground.

"Hey Kendall, I think the cashier's getting ready to kill you," Logan called to him, and Kendall looked up at the glowering cashier for a second before shrinking back in fear and placing each clothing article back on its hanger, Carlos helping him. Camille sat on a couch near them, laughing to herself.

Logan shook his head at his friends before searching the racks himself, pulling out a black-and-white sweater vest. James looked over before rolling his eyes.

"Another sweater vest, Logie? That's all you ever wear," James snorted, before placing his hands on Logan's shoulders and steering the brunette away from the button-down and sweater vest racks. "You need to get something cooler to wear," he laughed.

"What? Sweater vests are cool," Logan protested, but laughed anyways. He watched in amusement as James snatched several articles of clothing from the racks, before leading Logan into the dressing rooms.

Half an hour later (twice less the amount of time Camille took), the boys had already bought their outfits. Kendall had bought a grey beanie, a plain white shirt with a bunch of random words on it, denim skinny jeans, and dark blue Converse. Carlos had chosen a black shirt with labels written in white on it, a grey zip-down hoodie, dog tag necklaces, skinny jeans, and black Vans. James picked a plaid blue button-down shirt with a black tie, grey skinny jeans, and black Converse. And last but certainly not least, James had picked for Logan a plain white tee with a design of a mix tape with the film tangled to form letters on it, plain skinny jeans, a black tuxedo jacket, and black Vans.

"Wow, guys, I gotta admit, you guys looked pretty hot," Camille complimented as Kendall finished paying at the front desk.

"Yeah, well, this time we had the money for it. Who's the poor chick you stole all that money from, Logan?" Kendall asked casually, taking the large bags from the counter into his arms.

"Some blonde named Katie," Logan remarked, and for a moment Kendall looked wistful.

"Huh, that's the name of my sister," he muttered, so quietly that Logan almost didn't catch it. But he did, and he stayed silent for a few minutes, thinking about it as Kendall quickly changed the subject.

**REVIEWS ARE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED. :)**


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